Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” – Deuteronomy 4:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 21, 2015): Deuteronomy 4

I am at war with Facebook. Well, not with the company or the Social networking site itself, but with the people who use it. For those who know me, this statement isn’t much of a surprise. My struggle with Facebook is a long one. Yes, I have a Facebook account. You might have even accessed this blog through it, or through one of my Facebook friends who has posted this link on their page. Facebook has some amazing strengths, including the ability to find and have at least some communication with friends from the past and relatives who live far away. But Facebook has one major flaw, us – the people who use it. And too often we don’t have the slightest idea of how to use it. We are passive aggressive and negative, and I get that we don’t even realize that this is the way that we are coming across. Facebook too often has become a tool of hate, although I know that we would never phrase it quite that strongly. There is one piece of motherly advice that apparently Facebook users never received from their mothers – “if you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.” Or maybe somehow we have deceived ourselves into believing that writing it down on a Facebook update is not the same thing as saying it. If we have believed that, then we are wrong.

There is absolutely nothing attractive about hate. I know, that almost sounds like an unnecessary statement, but every time I am around someone who simply seems to want to hate, I can’t wait to get away. I know I have been there myself. The problem is that the hate response is too easy. But we need to resist the response because it is also extremely ugly.

Yet it is amazing at how easy it is for religions to go immediately to hate. Even Christianity, a religion that professes to follow the words of Jesus to go and love (“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” – John 13:34-35) seems to find it very easy to go and hate. We hate on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, or sometimes just simply sex. And because of our hate, many have turned away from what they call “organized religion” and exchanged it for a more “personal spirituality.”

But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, from the mouth of God the purpose of our faith is so that the world will know that the God we serve is Lord over all. Our actions are supposed to prove that he is the Creator. By following his laws, we are supposed to be transformed into a people that possesses great understanding. And at the height of Israel’s reliance on the Laws of God, this was exactly what had happened. Even the Queen of Sheba travelled to Israel to partake of this understanding. But since then, we have failed.

We need a new transformation. We need to be changed into a people that simply refuses to take the easy road into hate. Because I am convinced that if we are willing to really love, then the world will know that the one that we serve is truly God – and God over everything. Love is tangible and it is powerful. But it only works if we are willing to give up our hate.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 5